Dear Colleagues:

Happy National Teacher Day and Teacher Appreciation Week! More than ever, I am impressed by your ingenuity, your resilience, your passion and your strength, as we have navigated unprecedented challenges over the past two months. Now more than ever, I am proud to be a Vermont educator, and grateful to have such wonderful colleagues in all of you.

Usually Teacher Appreciation Week falls during one of the last weeks of the legislative session. In past years, some of my staff on the communications team have walked through the State House with a white board, gathering messages of thanks from legislators, the Governor and other state leaders. Of course, that isn’t happening this year, as the General Assembly, like all of us, is exploring new virtual ways of conducting business.

But now, more than ever, we have cause to be grateful for your efforts. Last week, during an all AOE virtual meeting, many AOE staff expressed their admiration and gratitude, and a desire to express that directly to you. You’ll find their messages below, from divisions, teams and individuals, thanking you for your efforts.

These past few months have been hard. You and your colleagues have had to transition from your normal teaching practice to remote learning, setting up new lesson plans, devising and recording instructional videos, preparing materials, and finding new ways to check in on and connect with your students. And all of you have done this while juggling the effects of COVID-19 on your family and personal lives as well. As a parent and the spouse of an educator, I have seen firsthand the challenges you have faced.

But you have achieved great things despite the hardship. I’ve been hearing many stories from superintendents, principals and CTE directors about your incredible efforts, the great innovations and new practices you are pioneering, and the new partnerships and relationships you are forging as you work to provide for your students. You are using existing resources and tools in new ways, and developing systems and practices that are wholly new, and will continue to provide benefits down the road. And many of you are also stepping up to support your wider communities as well.

At AOE we will continue to work hard to support you, and provide your districts and schools the resources they need to sustain this period of remote learning. I’m proud of our efforts – we’ve worked hard to forge new partnerships, with Vermont PBS, and Vermont Public Radio to provide education programming over the airwaves and online. And we’ve renewed and expanded existing partnerships, like with the Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative. We will continue to pursue these kinds of resources, so that you have as many tools in your toolbox as possible.

While there have been many challenges and are more still to come, I am impressed by, and grateful for, your efforts and your ingenuity. We still have much work to do, to continue remote learning through the remainder of the pandemic, and to provide the supports students will need during the recovery. But the things we have learned, and the innovations you have pioneered, will not soon leave us. We are building new structures and practices that will last beyond COVID-19, and will benefit Vermont students for many years to come.

Thank you.